Philosophy: an urban pursuit? Liverpool's Philosophy in the City festival is aiming to bring philosophical research out of academia and into urban life _Clare Carlisle_ (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/clare-carlisle) _guardian.co.uk_ (http://www.guardian.co.uk/) , Friday 8 October 2010 The Greek word philosophia – the love of wisdom – is a reminder that philosophy as we know it today began in the ancient city of Athens. Unlike most contemporary philosophers, _Socrates_ (http://www.iep.utm.edu/greekphi/#H2) did not spend his days in a library, a classroom, or an office, but on the city streets. He was known to hang out in the agora, or marketplace, of Athens, where he would engage both his own followers and more hostile rivals in challenging conversation. Within a few years Socrates's idiosyncratic mode of philosophising began to be institutionalised within the city, as _Plato's Academy_ (http://www.iep.utm.edu/academy/) and then _Aristotle's Lyceum_ (http://www.iep.utm.edu/lyceum/) were founded. And as philosophy developed in Europe over the following decades and centuries, it remained a largely urban phenomenon. Whether we're thinking of _Kierkegaard_ (http://www.iep.utm.edu/kierkega/) on the streets of Copenhagen or _Sartre_ (http://www.iep.utm.edu/sartre-ex/) in the cafes of Paris, many philosophers are closely associated with the cities in which their ideas took shape. _Thomas de Quincey_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_de_Quincey) once remarked that _Kant_ (http://www.iep.utm.edu/kantmeta/) 's regular-as-clockwork walks through Königsberg provided a concrete metaphor for his notoriously abstract, systematic philosophy. But if Athens was the birthplace of philosophy, it was not always an entirely welcoming home. Socrates ended up being executed at the hands of the city's rulers. And in more recent history, several philosophers have sought refuge in quieter, more remote places. _Nietzsche_ (http://www.iep.utm.edu/nietzsch/) , for example, found the Swiss mountains to be the most conducive environment for his thinking; _Heidegger_ (http://www.iep.utm.edu/heidegge/) wrote much of his philosophy in a secluded hut in the Black Forest; _Wittgenstein_ (http://www.iep.utm.edu/wittgens/) periodically felt compelled to exchange the crowds of Vienna or Cambridge for the tranquillity of the Norwegian or Irish countryside. In Britain today, much of the activity that goes under the name of philosophy happens in cities, not least because most of the country's big universities are located in cities. But do these universities – and the professionalisation and even the industrialisation of intellectual life that they have come to represent – make cities philosophical places? Or do they rather keep philosophy out of the city, confined to campus, out of the way of most of the population? After all, a person who arrives today in a great university town like Manchester, London or even Oxford finds a marketplace buzzing not with philosophical debate, but with shoppers, tourists and mobile phones. Is there space and time for philosophy in a modern city? And do city dwellers want to encounter philosophers amid the hustle and bustle of their hectic lives? Once they have posed a question, philosophers typically set about answering it in a theoretical manner – perhaps by a weighing of evidence (via a circuitous discussion of what counts as evidence), perhaps by logical analysis of the question and definition of its key terms. But these questions about philosophy's connection to city life are soon to be addressed in a very practical way, when Liverpool becomes home to the first _Philosophy in the City_ (http://philosophyinthecity.info/festival/) festival. The festival, which is funded and organised by Liverpool University's philosophy department, seeks to bring philosophical research out of the academic context and into the city. For two weeks beginning on 10 October, events will happen in venues throughout Liverpool – in places where people are more used to finding art exhibitions, live music, film screenings, theatre performances and religious rituals. The idea is to make philosophy a part of urban life alongside these other, more familiar kinds of cultural activity. Philosophers will speak about truth and art at Tate Liverpool; the value of nature at Sefton Park's leafy Palm House; habit and happiness at the Catholic cathedral; mathematical thinking at _Fact_ (http://www.fact.co.uk/) ; and philosophy and prayer in the city's fine Anglican cathedral. Nina Power will discuss her provocative feminist tract _One Dimensional Woman_ (http://www.o-books.com/obookssite/book/detail/354) with an audience that includes the equally provocative local community group, _Angry Women of Liverpool_ (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=139390246071917) . At the Bluecoat, Julian Baggini headlines the festival by talking about his book, _Welcome to Everytown_ (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/mar/10/society) , which explores the views of those living in England's most typical postcode. In keeping with the theme of _Liverpool's 2010 Biennial: Touched_ (http://www.biennial.com/content/LiverpoolBiennial2008/International10Touched/ Overview.aspx) , which runs throughout this autumn, festival audiences will be encouraged to think about how their own lives might be touched by philosophy. It's an exciting project, but it remains to be seen whether or not philosophy has a place in the city. As Plato was painfully aware following the death of his mentor, Socrates, philosophers can be strangers even in their home towns, and are likely to be treated with suspicion. Today, the prevailing suspicion is probably not that philosophers have a subversive influence, but that they don't "do" anything "useful". Liverpool, like ancient Athens, certainly has a rich spiritual and intellectual culture, and its inhabitants are known for their love of conversation and debate. But is Liverpool really a philosophical city? And how will professional philosophers, who tend to talk about their ideas only with other scholars – a tendency fostered by increasing pressure from their employers to produce "world-leading" research – find a voice with which to share their peculiar kind of "work" with the man and woman on the street? -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
